Good morning and welcome to Thursday.
Gov. Tim Walz still wants a special legislative session, although he told MPR’s Cathy Wurzer yesterday that he hasn’t talked to Republican Senate Majority Leader Jeremy Miller since last week. Walz insists a deal on major spending bills is close. “I want to get back together with them and hash out the deal so that we can come back and finish this up quickly,” Walz said. “Again, we're not in a budget year, but we are in a unique opportunity, especially where folks are seeing globally inflationary prices. And right here in Minnesota, get some money back in the pockets of folks and then make sure property taxes stay low by investing in schools, public safety — it can be done.”
Evictions in Minnesota are spiking now that state-imposed renter protections have expired.Jessie Van Berkel at the Star Tribune has the story: More than two years after DFL Gov. Tim Walz halted evictions to prevent homelessness amid surging COVID-19 cases and the resulting economic downturn, the state has phased out its final pandemic-era renter protection. The last remaining cushion allowed renters who would otherwise have been evicted for failing to pay rent to keep their housing as long as they had a pending application for emergency rental assistance. As of Wednesday, evictions in those cases could resume. "The shelter need is going to just skyrocket this month, as well as homelessness," predicted attorney Rachael Sterling, COVID-19 eviction response coordinator for the tenant advocacy organization HOME Line. "These protections have been critical in keeping people housed. And those protections are just gone. And the safety net that we had in place for almost two years is just ripped out from underneath people."
It’s mostly quiet when it comes to Minnesota judicial races in the fall election. MPR’s Brian Bakst reports that for the first time since 2006 and only the second time in the last three decades, no Supreme Court justices face challengers. Nobody filed against Justices Gordon Moore and Natalie Hudson in their pursuit of new six-year terms. Nor are there any contested Court of Appeals races. Ten current appeals judges are on this year’s ballot. Only one district court judgeship has multiple candidates. That’s for a spot in the 1st Judicial District for a seat based in Scott County. Unlike other states, judicial elections haven’t turned dramatically political in Minnesota. And judges here who are challenged rarely are defeated at the ballot box. And Brian also passes this along: There are family bragging rights on the line in a Sibley County board of commissioners race. A pair of cousins both filed for the open commissioner seat before this week’s candidate deadline. Lyle Grochow is a retired public works employee and first-time candidate. He said he and cousin, Avery, were both considering campaigns but had been hedging about whether to move ahead. "We talked about it, and at first he was gonna, and I was gonna, then he wasn't gonna then,” Lyle said. “But then he decided to do it. And then I thought, you know, I'm only gonna do it once." They filed within a day of each other. Lyle said he doesn’t expect there will be hard feelings if the other is elected. "We do a lot of stuff together. So we won't quit doing stuff together. I'm not worried about that. We talked about it. And I said, 'If I win, I win.' And if he wins, he wins. I don't care. It's just to try it once. So we'll be fine. I know we will." There is a third candidate in the nonpartisan race who isn’t related to them.
MPR’s Dan Kraker reportsembattled Two Harbors Mayor Chris Swanson said Wednesday he would not resign over multiple allegations of conflict of interest. “The real question today is not about Mayor Chris Swanson, did he do things right or wrong?” he said, with his wife, Rebecca by his side. “The real question is, does Two Harbors want to continue to move forward and get things done? Or do they want to stop and go backwards?” Swanson took credit for a number of achievements in recent years, including new streets and sidewalks, a downtown revival and state funding for a wastewater treatment plant. Swanson’s announcement sets the stage for a recall election, likely in August, after petitioners gathered more than 500 valid voter signatures to put Swanson’s fate on the ballot. The Two Harbors City Council then voted 6-1 last week to move ahead with the recall vote. Only Swanson voted against it. Swanson first came under fire in January when the Duluth News Tribune reported on his involvement in a proposal to build an underwater hotel in Lake Superior, which included his appearance on a podcast with an anonymous self-described billionaire dubbed “Mr. O.” Since then there have been several additional accusations that Swanson blurred the lines between his role as mayor and his family’s private business pursuits.
A judge in Minneapolis sentenced another member of a far-right extremist group to prison on terrorism charges Wednesday.MPR’s Matt Sepic reports Benjamin Ryan Teeter of Hampstead, North Carolina got on the FBI's radar after he and Michael Robert Solomon of New Brighton showed up armed at the George Floyd protests two years ago. Teeter and Solomon were part of a group called the Boogaloo Bois, which hopes to foment civil war in the U.S. The men each pleaded guilty to supporting a foreign terrorist organization. They tried to sell weapons to an FBI informant posing as a member of Hamas. Judge Michael Davis sentenced Teeter to four years in prison. That's a year more than he gave Solomon back in March. But Davis said he'd consider reducing Teeter's sentence to three years if he follows through on his agreement to cooperate with prosecutors. | 